


Moonlight and River Within

by nightingalecanary



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Established Friendship, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, Set between 1.02 and 1.05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 07:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19194310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightingalecanary/pseuds/nightingalecanary
Summary: this fic is set between season one episode two and episode five with betty and jughead beginning to develop feelings for one another. this fic is referenced to the song "basking in the moonlight" by richard carr, so i hope you enjoy reading it.





	Moonlight and River Within

The day had just begun winding down into night with a full moon shining in the clear, blue sky on a Tuesday afternoon as a blonde, green-eyed sixteen-year-old teenager was walking down the street with her backpack strapped on her back with her ponytail bouncing. Her name was Betty Cooper and walking home from school, Riverdale High used to be her daily routine but all of that changed after the murder of Jason Blossom.

Jason Blossom was Riverdale High’s star football player and the captain of the school water polo team. Who would have thought that on that one morning, he would be plucked away from the lives of his family, friends, and fellow habitants of Riverdale?

That was the question that suddenly had begun ringing in Betty Cooper’s brain since the day she got the call from her mother when she got back to her hotel from a hard work’s day at her summer internship. That day had been one of the best days of her life no doubt, getting to meet her idol, Toni Morrison and also thinking about how in just a couple of short weeks she would be able to see Archie, her childhood best friend and longtime crush. All of that came crashing down due to the phone call, one concern staying in her mind: _Polly_

The day she got home, she was expecting to see her sister along with her two parents, to only find out that her older sister had been sent away for help. Betty hadn't bought the word “help” for a second even when her mother explained it to her, she knew that Polly would've never fallen ‘off the rocks’ or _maybe it was because of Jason_ , was another thought in her mind, trying to defend her mother’s reasoning in some crazy way.

Betty stared up at the night sky, trying to think of explanations and excuses to tell her mother once she got home, noticing that she would get home only a minute past her normal curfew. An example for one of them was ‘Caught up with Archie, mom’, knowing how fond her mother was of the football player and now aspiring musician.

Archie was someone whom she grew up with, always feeling something a little bit special for him that she didn't feel for the other third of their trio, Jughead, often being called the three musketeers by their parents and others along the way. She decided, especially after being away at her summer internship, that she would finally express her feelings towards him so both of them could be happily ever after. But, even Betty knew there was no such thing as happily ever after, especially after the arrival of Veronica, who’d become her new best friend.

The night sky beamed as Betty got lost in thought of the recent events that had occurred to her ever since that one day, July 4th. A day she ultimately would never forget, for better or for worse.

One location on Betty’s way to her house that lived on Elm Street, right next to the perfect boy next door, believe it or not, was Sweetwater River, the same place where they found Jason’s cold, dead body. The place always gave the blonde the creeps and she usually tried to walk fast past the place to try to avoid it, but something there caught her eye and made her stop in her tracks, trying to get a better look at the shadowy figure looming there.

Spotted was tall, broody, beanie-wearing Jughead Jones squatting down near some rocks down the shore of the river with his light brown laptop bag wrapped around his body like a pageant sash.

She looked around, wondering why he was there and most importantly wanting to know what he was studying at, so she decided to walk down behind to where he was squatting, “Jughead?” the blonde said softly, not wanting to scare him.

Jughead’s head whipped around in confusion and hurry, scared that he might've been caught but replaced his confused expression with one of relief at the scene of the sweater and jeans wearing girl.

“Betty, thank god it’s just you.” He sighed in relief before continuing with a small stutter, “W-what are you doing here anyways?”

Betty searched his face, trying to find an answer in just his expression, but she was unsuccessful, “I was just walking home from school. Wait Jug, what are _you_ doing here? It’s late out, you really should be at home.”

“I-I, um, am just exploring nature..at night” Jughead paused and released a shaky breath, instantly regretting his excuse towards the real reason why he was there out of all places he could've been.

“Jug..”

Jughead breathed out into the semi-chilling air, creating a smoke-like breath ring next to him “I’m just investigating for my novel, you know the one that I’m writing on Jason Blossom’s murder. The best place to start is to go where it happened, so I’ve just been tracing the steps of that day” He said, looking down on the floor at the sand that formed around the rock, kicking it softly with his right foot.

Betty examined the space now around them, seeing trees circling the river with rocks building along the shore, sensing the oddly familiar space as an eerie sensation especially after the events the setting has recently been exposed to.

The blonde just nods, understanding where he was coming from.

“Let me show you something, Betts.” He said as he took her hand, guiding her up onto the rock that overlooked the entire river. “

As you can see, every tree and rock has become a vital witness to the case, possibly one of them being where Jason’s killer was located to aim the shot.” Jughead said, pointing towards the rocks and trees below and across from them, explaining to her the ideology behind the point of the reason why the river would now become his muse towards the investigation.

“So, you think that by examining the rocks, trees, and essentially water will give you the answer to how Jason Blossom was murdered?” Betty asked with an arched eyebrow, giggling as she looked up at him, squeezing his hand tighter.

Jughead chuckled, smirking over at Betty, “Oh, Betty Cooper, you don’t trust me, do you?”

Betty felt her cheeks flush from the way his smirk laid on her eyes, looking down from Jughead’s gaze before pulling herself back up to meet his eyes. “N-No, that’s not what I me-“

“Relax Betty,” Jughead said, interrupting her as he let out another chuckle from her response, catching her flushed cheeks from where he was standing, the moonlight illuminating her even more to him, just making her more beautiful.

 _Didn't think you could get more beautiful, Betty_ , he thought as he caught her eyes’ gaze.

Jughead Jones was known as the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the only thing pulling him towards the pristine and clean northside was his two childhood best friends, Archie Andrews, and Betty Cooper, the soon to be a golden couple of the new age of Riverdale. He always knew the two would somewhat end up with one another, to his dismay or not, but to his not so shocking surprise Archie was the one who left Betty hanging that day of Homecoming.

She deserves better, he thought when he finally met face to face that day at Pop’s with Archie who had bailed on their fourth of July road trip that both teenagers had planned for months, even for a year to instead go off with no other than Ms. Grundy, the high school music teacher.

Jughead always had feelings for Betty, even if he admitted them or not but always shut them and buried them down because he always knew that he would never, not even if they were the two humans left on earth, be able to call her his girlfriend but here she is, right in front of him soaking in the moonlight as they discuss over Jason Blossom’s death.

The perfect escape from his own life and into hers.

He looked down at his watch out of the blue to catch a glimpse of the time while they were basking in their silence between the two, his eyes widening when it read 9:30, knowing it was way past the blonde’s curfew,

“Oh shit, Betty, you need to be home. You really shouldn't be out here and it’s all my fault let me take you home.” He said as he shuffled down the rock to pick up his camera which was laying on the ground, taking one more shot at the rock below him.

Betty was just distracted by the comfortable silence that had fallen upon the both of them, a soft smile landing on her face which later turned into a look of anxiousness and worries when she was finally pulled back into reality and away from the bubble that she felt was inhabiting both her and Jughead, a place of comfort really.

“N-No I don’t want to inconvenience you with trying to take me home. It’s just a couple of blocks away from here and you should get going as well, _Juggie_.” Betty said, starting to breathe a little heavier from the fact that she knew when she got home her mother would question her about where she was, knowing that she’d kill her since she was out with a boy, no matter if it was Jughead or not.

Jughead smiled at the use of the nickname Juggie, liking the sound of it coming from her mouth and in her voice, “Please, let me take you home so I at least know you got home safe, Betts. There is a killer on the loose, remember?”

“Fine, only because I want to make sure you get out of Sweetwater alive, okay?” Betty said with an arched eyebrow, her smile fading when he mentioned there is a killer on the loose, joking about it later on.

Jughead smirked over at her and made his way towards the river’s unofficial entrance, seeing her ponytail bounce up as she catches up to him from the corner of his eye which brought a smile to his face, chuckling to himself “Oh Betty Cooper, you're going to be the death of me one day.”

Betty blushed at the comment, giggling along with his barely audible chuckle, walking side by side him as they both made their way down the street in comfortable silence.

She caught a glimpse of the moonlight shining right above her, biting her lip as she later looked over at Jughead who too had a smile on his face, taking his hand in hers, she squeezed tightly.

**Author's Note:**

> hello, i can't believe this is my first fic! i'm so excited to continue exploring and developing my writing style with you all. this is just the first of my many fics that i am planning on publishing to the world. 
> 
> my tumblr is nightingale-canary and here's the link https://nightingale-canary.tumblr.com/  
> you can request subjects and topics of fics! 
> 
> hope you guys enjoyed this one-shot and please be nice in comments!


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